seasonic, my favorite brand of all time. My old 300w super tornado is stull running in my file server after being used in my workstation for some time. It is probibly a good 7 years old now, having only needed to replace the fan. My current one is a corsair HX520 (seasonic made) which i purchased shortly before seasonic made there own modular PSU's (ohwell). And it has also had exceptional performance for everything i can throw at it. I know it will survive through many upgrade's and last me for years.

Cudo's to you guys for being one of the few company's around that strives to be the best and build a reputation on quality rather then marketing.

Thanks everyone for the vote of confidence! This is very nice to hear!
In regard to your comment about replacing your fan, this is also one of the reasons for us to make the Fanless because normally speaking, any moving part in the PSU is the part with the lowest MTBF and remove it will only ensure a longer lifetime of the total unit.

I can't explain Seasonic's rationale but the 460W model does include an extra PCIe power cable if you don't mind paying a bit extra (no idea how much extra).

The other alternative is to avoid nVidia until they do a die shrink and hopefully get they're house in order. However given the reputation of the 200 series I'm not exactly optimistic.

First of all, 460GTX does not require 8-pin connectors - just regular 6-pin ones. Second, since its already in the market, why would you want a different card, say, the 2xx series? Or a 470?

Lastly, why can't you use the ever popular 2 molex > 6-pin cable?

On the other hand, I'm positive there eventually will be a "green" GTX460 with a single 6-pin and lower clocks. The regular one barely exceeds 150W under heaviest load anyway.And there will obviously be cards like 455 and 450 that will give you similar performance and will have a single 6-pin power connector.

As a side note, AFAIR there are v few 400 watter (and lower) with double PCI-E connectors - one I remember is Enermax Liberty. And you are right - there should definitely be more 400W PSUs with dual VGA power cables..._____

As to the reviewed PSU - I was reading it with a blissfully stupid grin, drooling and in awe. My wife asked "what's this? why so happy?". Didn't answer, she wouldn't understand...

As a side note, AFAIR there are v few 400 watter (and lower) with double PCI-E connectors

Unfortunately while we all know that you don't need 1kW PSUs the specifications for these power connectors and getting NVIDIA and ATi to certify a PSU as being 'suitable' for big graphics cards requires them to have ridiculous power ratings. Look on the minimum requirements for any graphics card and they'll list 300W minimum for even a low powered passive unit. It's about certification and marketing.

Perhaps its about time we stand up and boycott all SLI certified PSUs? You can use a molex adaptor or better still do a cable mod and you will save money on your initial investment and electricity, heat and noise in the long run.

Seasonic Rep wrote:

In regard to your comment about replacing your fan, this is also one of the reasons for us to make the Fanless because normally speaking, any moving part in the PSU is the part with the lowest MTBF and remove it will only ensure a longer lifetime of the total unit.

I would also assume that the cost to you of warranty claims will be significantly lower with a fanless design. Offering a 5 year warranty should be no problem when using high quality parts and clever design. This is very good.

I am wondering with this design if it is workable in a case where the PSU sits on its side, like in a lot of HTPC and desktop units. Without any vertical ventilation (top to bottom air flow through the unit by convection) would it perhaps operate out of temperature range at full load?

PSU Side Mounted: From our survey, most HTPC are fairly low power consumption systems, maybe 150w +/-... Based on our tests, under such conditions, the PSU will be ok on the side.

SFX: We are revamping our SFX line up before the end of the year. At this point in time, max output will still be 350w continuous. This is mainly because of the allowable height of the main capacitors on the PCB butting up to the fan. The planned 80PLUS is Bronze, for now but these things can change.... Per my earlier post, to achieve GOLD for such low wattage is difficult due to various reasons.

The comment about going up to 700W with a fan is interesting. Makes me wonder why they don't release a version with a fan that only kicks in above 400W. With one of the 5000 series Radeons and a modern 6 core CPU you could have a system that runs fanless in normal use but can ramp up to heavy processing or games easily.

Yeah that interested me too...

But I guess you've almost already got that with the X-650 which (I believe) is exactly the same design, bar some heat-sinks and a fan.

But I guess you've almost already got that with the X-650 which (I believe) is exactly the same design, bar some heat-sinks and a fan.

The X-650 is not exactly the same. The X-400 is part of an improved X-series range which includes a higher capacity fanless, the X-460 and the hybrid cooled X-560, X-660 and X-760. The X-460 and X-560 are already showing on the Seasonic website, I would suspect that the X-660 and X-760 will be out before the end of the year.

Until the X-560, X-660 and X-760 are out no one will know exactly what the differences are. On the Seasonic website there is an X-Series spec sheet, but it only covers the X-650 and X-750 models. The X-560 has a separate spec sheet, and the details are slightly different to the X-650/X-750. I would guess the '60s' are a way of introducing a new model without the potential confusion that an X-650 II would cause.

Regarding the newer X_60 series, while it does seem like a marketing exercise, there's the very real possibility of evolutionary changes designed to improve production efficiency, the implementation of tweaks in the process as many thousands of units roll off the line. It may not make much of a change in specs or individual units, but such chnages help improve sample-to-sample consistency, QA, and lower cost as well. It's probably useful to think of the newer x models as v1.1 or v1.2.

Some technological features are less critical to the end user but extremely significant for production. For example... According to an unofficial chat I had with one of company reps, one of the most important aspects of the x-series' all-modular cabling is the production efficiency gained by eliminating the need to solder the wiring harness. Due to the number and size of the wires, this is always done manually. It is a major bottleneck in the production flow, and often a point where cold solder joints occur. This applies to all psu makers. With the x-series, the number of manual solder stations could be halved, and the number of QA rejects and failures in the filed are already clearly reduced.

With the x-series, the number of manual solder stations could be halved, and the number of QA rejects and failures in the filed are already clearly reduced.

Then i hope that will translate to a lower price, because it is a bit expensive, and i think that must be one of the reasons why I can only find 1 store in my country that sells the X-650 / X-750 powersupplies... (@ 179â‚¬ and 199â‚¬ respectively)________________________________________________________________
I would like to know one thing about the X-400(which I think might interest other people too, since it's sort of "the minimum cooling needs of the PSU to be happy"):
In a situation where the PSupply- is in a separate-chamber(isolated from the other components)- the chamber having positive pressure (only forced air on the intake),- having its "out side"(the one with the power conector) being the only one in contact with the outside (so the air is forced through the PSU),How much CFM would be needed to come from the intake for the PSU to not fetch ANY air from the outside?

Thanks,

_________________- OddSilence -
Please rinse my opinions and take them with a grain of salt, a grain of pepper, oregano, cook it for a few minutes and leave it for an hour to settle(since I might edit it)..

Last edited by OddSilence on Tue Aug 17, 2010 6:39 am, edited 2 times in total.

I would like to know one thing about the X-400(which I think might interest other people too, since it's sort of "the minimum cooling needs of the PSU to be happy"):In a situation where the PSupply- is in a separate-chamber(isolated from the other components)- the chamber having positive pressure (only forced air on the intake),- having its "out side"(the one with the power conector) being the only one in contact with the outside (so the air is forced through the PSU),How much CFM would be needed to come from the intake for the PSU to not fetch ANY air from the outside?

Thanks,

This is not an answerable question -- "How much CFM..." type questions are never answerable because CFM itself is a totally nebulous quality for a fan: measured in free air w/o any impedance -- ie, it's a pure abstraction. Don't go there, there's nothing to be gained.

But I don't get why you'd say "for the PSU to not fetch ANY air from the outside?" The PSU has no fan so how could it fetch any air except via convection? And if there's an intake fan in the chamber, the air movement would be away from the fan (assuming at least, say, 300rpm) -- which presumably means out of the chamber through the x-400.

I would like to know one thing about the X-400(which I think might interest other people too, since it's sort of "the minimum cooling needs of the PSU to be happy"): In a situation where the PSupply - is in a separate-chamber(isolated from the other components) - the chamber having positive pressure (only forced air on the intake), - having its "out side"(the one with the power conector) being the only one in contact with the outside (so the air is forced through the PSU), How much CFM would be needed to come from the intake for the PSU to not fetch ANY air from the outside?

This is not an answerable question -- "How much CFM..." type questions are never answerable because CFM itself is a totally nebulous quality for a fan: measured in free air w/o any impedance -- ie, it's a pure abstraction. Don't go there, there's nothing to be gained.

But I don't get why you'd say "for the PSU to not fetch ANY air from the outside?" The PSU has no fan so how could it fetch any air except via convection? And if there's an intake fan in the chamber, the air movement would be away from the fan (assuming at least, say, 300rpm) -- which presumably means out of the chamber through the x-400.

Thank you for reading and answering my post;

Sorry, I tried to not make a long post, since I was afraid it deviated a bit from this thread's subject(the article), and ended up not explaining well(together with my fault too)...
- What I meant with "CFM" was "volume of air through the PSU (so, from the PSU point-of-view, despite any variable impedances that may happen in specific cases)
- About the "not fetching any air" I was exactely talking about convection, so to try to be more clear:
What I wanted to know was how much volume of air was needed to pass through the PSU coming from the AirInputs sides towards the Output side to be sufficient for the PSU (and in my thinking, the psu not getting air from the outside would mean that).
[In my case it's because I wanted to use it in a filtered-case and didn't want the PSU to get dusty-air from the outside; but (i think) it also can be seen as a measure of this PSU's cooling needs]

Thank you for your time and effort,

_________________- OddSilence -
Please rinse my opinions and take them with a grain of salt, a grain of pepper, oregano, cook it for a few minutes and leave it for an hour to settle(since I might edit it)..

The answer to your question is that it takes very little airflow to keep the X-400 cool enough. If the X-400 is the only vent through which the air can flow out of the chamber, then as long as you can feel a little air movement from the back panel of the PSU, then that's probably enough.

The X-650 fan basically doesn't come on till nearly 200W in 20-23C ambient, and the X-400 is something like an X-650 w/o the fan and much bigger heatsinks designed for low airflow. So if there some path for the heat from the heatsinks in the PSU to rise up and away, then it can probably handle >300W w/o any forced airflow at all. At full load, I'm not certain. In my 15 hr torture test, even though there was no exhaust fan in the PSU test hotbox, there were slow-spinning fans pushing some air through it (though not the PSU) and helping to evacuate the heat. (This was not unrealistic: If you had a real system that drew 400W, your components would need some airflow in the case to survive, too.)

@MikeC: I really thank you for your reply. [I was thinking of maybe using a 375RPM intake fan with filter, so, considering impedances, it would be a really low airflow]

_________________- OddSilence -
Please rinse my opinions and take them with a grain of salt, a grain of pepper, oregano, cook it for a few minutes and leave it for an hour to settle(since I might edit it)..

A question about the complete X series - will Seasonic start providing custom length cables and if not why ? In many SFF projects for example the 58cm long 24-pin cable is extremly long.

Currently our facilities in the US & EU are not equipped to deal with customized cabling as we will need equipment and materials in bulk. And to get custom cabling from the Far East is not feasible due to all the minimum order quantities from our suppliers. It is possible to offer a few types of cables, but this is still under consideration.

This is not to say we will not move in this direction in the future as then we can offer the full advantage of X to everyone.

I am sorry for not providing a more firm answer but this is our current situation, hopefully we can improve by next year.

Currently our facilities in the US & EU are not equipped to deal with customized cabling as we will need equipment and materials in bulk. And to get custom cabling from the Far East is not feasible due to all the minimum order quantities from our suppliers. It is possible to offer a few types of cables, but this is still under consideration.

Actually, i mean more like you have now 58cm long cables in standard, then you would have few types of shorter/longer cables on sale (for example 20,40,58cm long) - this won't make the cables custom by the definiton, but will offer flexibility to customers. Or if you don't plan this, you could still think about possibility to buy replacement cables - this would make modding easier if someone would need shorter cables, but you don't provide them. Right now the only way to get new cables is if i RMA the whole PSU because of cable failure...

A question about the complete X series - will Seasonic start providing custom length cables and if not why ? In many SFF projects for example the 58cm long 24-pin cable is extremly long.

Currently our facilities in the US & EU are not equipped to deal with customized cabling as we will need equipment and materials in bulk. And to get custom cabling from the Far East is not feasible due to all the minimum order quantities from our suppliers. It is possible to offer a few types of cables, but this is still under consideration.

This is not to say we will not move in this direction in the future as then we can offer the full advantage of X to everyone.

I am sorry for not providing a more firm answer but this is our current situation, hopefully we can improve by next year.

I'd like to suggest instead of custom cabling you offer a set of long cables and a set of short cables as two accessory kits. In those nice micro duffel bags they'd fetch 15-20$C at retail. Include a set of SATA data cables and some single ended output cables for each of the PSU outputs. With the LONG, SHORT, and STANDARD sizes we'd all have a better chance of getting the right cable fit. Another accessory kit might be to offer just the raw connectors with pins with instructions. If there was a cable kit for my M12 I'd have already bought one.

Another advantage of accessorizing a PSU is that you can differentiate yourself from your competitors. Think of it...what PSU manufacturer offers a cable sets as an accessory ? People like myself would be drawn to your brand because of the attention to customer needs. There are many people sourcing the connectors and making their own custom cables.

I just noticed this was off topic but thought it needed to be said anyway...thanks

A question about the complete X series - will Seasonic start providing custom length cables and if not why ? In many SFF projects for example the 58cm long 24-pin cable is extremly long.

Currently our facilities in the US & EU are not equipped to deal with customized cabling as we will need equipment and materials in bulk. And to get custom cabling from the Far East is not feasible due to all the minimum order quantities from our suppliers. It is possible to offer a few types of cables, but this is still under consideration.

This is not to say we will not move in this direction in the future as then we can offer the full advantage of X to everyone.

I am sorry for not providing a more firm answer but this is our current situation, hopefully we can improve by next year.

I'd like to suggest instead of custom cabling you offer a set of long cables and a set of short cables as two accessory kits. In those nice micro duffel bags they'd fetch 15-20$C at retail. Include a set of SATA data cables and some single ended output cables for each of the PSU outputs. With the LONG, SHORT, and STANDARD sizes we'd all have a better chance of getting the right cable fit. Another accessory kit might be to offer just the raw connectors with pins with instructions. If there was a cable kit for my M12 I'd have already bought one.

Another advantage of accessorizing a PSU is that you can differentiate yourself from your competitors. Think of it...what PSU manufacturer offers a cable sets as an accessory ? People like myself would be drawn to your brand because of the attention to customer needs. There are many people sourcing the connectors and making their own custom cables.

I just noticed this was off topic but thought it needed to be said anyway...thanks

You make a good point deadbolt. I will speak to the PM about it and see, not sure on the possibilities. Yes, you are right, differentiation would be good.

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